Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Hi guys! Who would have guessed I'd go to another master class in painting so soon, ha? Well, I really wanted to paint some Christmas-y or New Year's eve themed painting and I wanted to do it before the actual New Year and Christmas so that I could hang it somewhere at home for holidays.

I really wanted to capture this atmosphere of holidays in the air: the quiet joy and peace of a Christmas starry night with all the holiday lights decorating the homes and Christmas trees, and all families gathered together at home to celebrate this glorious day. I really like how the stillness of the winter frosty weather and the absence of wind echoes that warm quiet yet joyful feeling. I also like how the church is in the center of the composition here reminding us that Christmas is all about Christ and His birth, and there are lights on at church, which means that its doors are always open to anyone anytime, especially on Christmas. I like it that in this picture there is a lot to look at and to watch and really think and meditate on, and that even though it is winter, you get a warm cozy feeling when looking at it.

That's exactly what I wanted in my painting, so when I found the illustration for it I knew I had to paint it. It was perfect. However, I didn't expect I'd be able to do it in just 4 hours, and I wasn't sure I'd cope, because it is the most complicated painting of all I've done so far. But I'm happy I was brave enough to try, because I enjoyed painting it so-so-so much and I do like the end result, even though it's not perfect and not nearly as amazing looking as the original. I still like it though.

Below is a short story in photos of how it came to realization. Hope you enjoy it :).

"I'm not really sure if I can make it, but I have to try. Where do I start from now?"

Yaaay! I did it!

It's drying now and waiting to go home :)

I hope you are having a great day and preparation for the holidays. I hope that in all the rush and stress of trying to complete many things you are actually enjoying your Christmas and New Year holidays period. Happy holidays!

Now if you are like me and you aren't really familiar (or wasn't familiar, I should say) with what a cleansing balm is and you never really used it, here's what it is in a nutshell. It is a very thick product made of natural oils and waxes that deep cleanses your skin without drying it out and stripping it off of all its natural moisture.

Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm

Here's how you use it. In a jar it looks and feels like a very thick waxy cream, but once you put it on your moist face or wet hands first, if you prefer, and spread it out, it starts emulsifying and turns into a liquid-y cream that dissolves all impurities and makeup and cleanses your face in that way. After massaging it into your face for a while you can take a muslin cloth (that is included by the way, as well as a cute little spatula), put it under running warm water, squeeze out the excess, and wipe away the product that's left on your skin. This way, you're not only removing the product residue but also doing a light exfoliation. This is how you use any cleansing balm.

Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm

I have to admit I am very late in this whole cleansing balm thing wagon, and I only discovered this type of product a couple of month ago, and it was a revelation for my dry sensitive skin. The Elemis cleansing balm is the only one I've tried so far, so I have nothing to compare it with.

However, I think it is an amazing product. It smells heavenly, just the smell alone brings me back to life. I have to admit, at first I was skeptical about how deeply some kind of waxes and oils can cleanse my skin deep into the pores and if it would be sufficient enough at all, and how it is going to feel. Well, it IS more than sufficient. It does cleanse deeply without leaving you feeling greasy or dry. It feels so fresh after you cleanse your skin with this, I cannot even tell you. If you hate your evening skincare routine and all that cleansing, with this balm you'll love it and will be looking forward to it. It becomes almost like a mini-treatment ritual at the end of the day when you can relax and let go of all the troubles and stress. My skin feels great after this: fresh, clean and soft. So I would totally recommend it, especially if your skin is as capricious, dry and prone to all kinds of irritations and spontaneous breakouts as mine. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well my skin responds to this product.

One other thing I want to mention. I do remove my makeup with a micellar cleansing water first, so I mainly use this balm for actual cleansing rather than makeup removal. However, I did try to remove my makeup with it too a couple of times just for the sake of this review. And I can tell you, it does the job really well, I don't see it leaving any trace of makeup, including mascara, after using it. And even though my preferred method is still a two-step cleansing process (first - makeup removal and second - actual deep cleansing), I can see it being a good product for those lazy one-step cleansing days.

As to the ingredients details and all that jazz, you can read it on the site here. That's where I bought it from. No need to say, it has a lot of good stuff for your skin. I just don't want to repeat all the official claims in the description to this product.

Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm

Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm: Ingredients

I hope this information was helpful. Please, let me know if you've tried any other great cleansing balms that I need to try too. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate your time.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

You already know I really enjoyed the first painting master class I went to (see Part 1 of my painting adventure here), so I was looking forward to the next one. I was planning to go to it and so this last weekend I did :). It was even more fun now that I knew what the process was. This time I brought my own photo of a winter scenery that I wanted to paint. Also this time I took my husband with me (for him it was the first time). So here's what turned out of it :). Needless to say, I looooved it. And I really-really like how our paintings turned out: both mine and my husband's (so proud of him).

My husband's painting. I think it is so stylish. It definitely has its own character and I love it. I keep looking and looking at it. If I saw it somewhere I'd buy it.

My painting. I like it too :). It makes me feel warm and cozy even though it has winter on it. And that's exactly what the plan was :).

Hope you enjoyed the post. What do you do for fun? Do you have any interesting hobbies? What are they? Has there been anything you recently learned and fell in love with? Please, share, I would love to know that.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Ok, guys. It's finally here! I'm super excited about this post, because I've been working on it for a long time to finally deliver well thought out suggestions to you. When I say long, I mean a couple of months. This idea first came to me in the summer, so it has been quite a while of playing around with different products and their combinations to come up with the best sets.

If you're like me you probably love to read about what people take with them to travel in their beauty bags and altogether. For me these posts combine my love for makeup and love for organizing, so I truly enjoy them even if I'm not traveling myself. When travelling we tend to take our best beauty bits with us which just get the job done well, we take our favorite products and also the ones that can be multi-taskers. So you could say that travel makeup bags are in a way a recommendation of the best most loved products. That's why I enjoy them so much.

However, we are all so different in terms of our makeup needs and preferences, leave alone age, skin type, tone, coloring etc. that these recommendations may just not be for everyone. We all know that, but I still wanted to offer something different on this subject, something that would speak to more girls out there, something, in which everyone could find something for themselves. So I thought of this idea to write a post about travel makeup bags for different personality types. And when I say "personality types", I mean "makeup personality types", so no serious psychology or philosophy involved here.

I don't think anyone has ever done a blog post like this suggesting a travel makeup bag based on your makeup personality type. At least, I haven't seen anyone do that, so I suppose it is going to be unique. I have to warn you though: It'll be a long post (definitely for those who love to read), but hopefully a helpful and an interesting one :). Sorry, for such a long intro, now let's get down to travel beauty business.

We're going to look at 3 personality types. There can be more of them but, if I included everything I thought about, this post would turn into a novel that nobody would read :). So here they are:

The makeup minimalist

The makeup maximalist

The makeup nerd

Makeup Personality Types

Makeup Minimalist

These would probably be the goddesses that I personally envy most. You either don't wear makeup much (if at all), or maybe you do but only for special occasions, or you wear minimum makeup trying to keep it as natural as possible. Maybe you're just very young and beautiful and don't even need makeup, or maybe you are just starting your way out in the makeup world. Chances are you have perfect or very good skin, so you don't wear much foundation and concealer, and when you do, it is usually in a very small amount and quite light. Your face structure and features are probably very well balanced and don’t need much makeup interference to look great as they naturally are. So your makeup routine takes you not more than 5 mins. You can't be bothered spending more time on it. You probably feel just as comfortable with no makeup on as you do with it (lucky you!). I bet you gravitate towards very neutral sophisticated colors and prefer high end brands. Classic simple natural beauty is your way to go.

If this describes you, congratulations! You are the makeup minimalist. When I think of a good example of one Ruth Crilly and Garance Dore come to my mind. Although you could be even more minimalistic :). These ladies embody chic to me. So if you fall into this category, you're in a very good company :).

For a minimalist I would suggest the following travel makeup bag.

"Minimalist" Travel Makeup Bag

See? Very few products and only 3 brushes. In these lists of products I'm going to list the colors I have and use for my very fair skin, but you can obviously change that for whatever shade works for you. It is more about suggesting the types of products to use than about specific products and shades.

Here's the list of products:

Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation in 51 Light vanilla (this is a great light to medium coverage foundation that can be built up slightly with a very natural satin finish)

Too Faced Absolutely Flawless Flexible Coverage Concealer in Vanilla (great concealer with indeed flexible coverage that can be used both for under-eyes and face imperfections, and you need just the tiniest bit of it)

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light (this is an awesome multi-tasker for pale skinned girls: it can be used as an all-over setting powder, as a contour, as a bronzer and as a natural blush/highlighter)

Stila Convertible Color in Lillium (beautiful natural universal shade of blush that can also double as a lip color)

Chanel Ombres Matelassées De Chanel Eye-shadow Palettein Charming (this piece is a great one to have, almost completely matte palette of your basic neutral shades from light to dark that can be used both for the eye-brows and for the eyes to create a variety of daytime and smoky looks. What to use instead if you don't have this LE palette? You can use one of the Naked Basics palettes, either 1 or 2, I'd prefer the 2nd one for its great potential brow colors, or any other similar palette)

Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara

Clarins Rouge Eclat lipstick in 01, Nude Rose (think of a great any occasion MLBB (my-lips-but-better) color for your lips)

Brushes:

Wayne Goss Brush 02(for all foundation and concealer you can use your hands, this brush is good for any face powder products, it can do it all)

Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush (from the Starter Set, this one will do all the lid, crease and blending work for you. You can also use a well-known Mac 217 for this purpose)

Bobbi Brown angled brow brush (this can do the lining, precision application and eye-brows for you)

"Minimalist" Travel Makeup Bag

All these products and brushes fit into this small makeup bag with enough room left for a few more items. Can you believe it? By the way, this is the makeup bag that I carry with me in my bag every day :).

Makeup Maximalist

This type, as the name logically implies, is a complete opposite of the previous one. The girls of this type are all into makeup. They are the experts. They love it, they know how to use it and they love experimenting with it. It is likely that if you belong to this type you might be a makeup artist or a beauty blogger, or something of that sort. You almost have a semi-professional interest in makeup. You know everything about the products and techniques, and you have an impressive makeup collection (and possibly an insane makeup brushes collection as well) for any possible look you can think of. You can be as natural and clean-looking as an angel, or as dramatic as a vampire queen. And that’s what makes you unique and always different and interesting. Playing with makeup for you equals to painting a picture for an artist. You know how to rock any trend on your face and make it look like it belongs to you. You can rock the colors like nobody’s business, yet you also know what’s appropriate in every situation and occasion.

So given all that, when you travel you want to have your options: the more, the better. After all, a girl can never have too many lipsticks, right? Plus, you never know what kind of makeup look you’ll be in the mood for tomorrow, so compactness is not really the factor to consider.

However, I can still suggest you the contents for your travel makeup bag that will give you myriads of options you need (especially considering your creativity) and save you space, that is unfortunately limited when you travel. And, you don’t need to carry your whole kit around to get the options you want :). So here we go.

"Maximalist" Travel Makeup Bag

Here’s the list of products:

Clarins Instant Light Radiance Boosting Complexion Base in 01 Rose (primer will help your makeup stay in place all day long, it can also work as a liquid highlighter when applied on top of your cheekbones at the end of your makeup application)

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Stay-in-Place Makeup in 0.5 (it is always a good option to take a fuller coverage foundation if you want options in coverage, because you can always sheer it out by mixing it in with your moisturizer. That way you can always customize the amount of coverage you want)

Too Faced Absolutely Flawless Flexible Coverage Concealer in Vanilla

Bourjois Healthy Balance Compact Powder in 51 (this is a great setting powder as it is lightweight and lasts a long time, yet it is super-compact and can easily be thrown in your bag for touch-ups during the day)

TheBalm Cindy-Lou Manizer AKA "The Con-tour Artist" (this is a great product, as it can be used as a light blush for pale girls or as an actual highlighter over your blush and bronzer. It is also a very nice option to mix with other of your face colored products for an interesting effect)

Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer (you need this in your life if you want your eye-shadow to last, especially for more complicated looks)

Too Faced A Few of My Favorite Things Palette (awesome, awesome palette for a variety of looks. If you don’t have this particular palette, opt for some other palette with many different neutral and colored eye-shadows and face products)

Anastasia Beverly Hills brow pencil in medium brown

Any 2 neutral-ish eye-liners of your choice (I happen to have some black one from Bourjois and a plummy-purple one from Loreal)

Pencil brush from Letoile (don’t remember the number, good for precision application and smudging, essential for smoky eyes)

Bobbi Brown angled brow brush (for lining and brows)

So as you can see, you can really get a lot from this set of products. Yet they all fit in this makeup bag and there is A LOT of spare room for any extras of your choice.

"Maximalist" Travel Makeup Bag

Makeup Nerd

This is a very interesting type of girls. They’re kind of a mixture between the minimalist and maximalist, but they take different sides from both. This is the most picky type of girls, who know exactly what they want in a product and they won’t settle for anything less than perfect. They love makeup in the same way a maximalist does, they may even have the same huge collection, but they don’t want to take as much with them when travelling. They want only the best products with them and they only want to take what they know they will use. In this sense they’re similar to the minimalists. They want the maximum options with minimum space and minimum number of products. They may not experiment that much on vacation sticking with the well tried out great flattering couple of looks that they know will work for all occasions for them, so they usually tend to take more of the neutral shades with them when travelling, even though at home they might be the ones going wild from time to time. But when travelling, they are more rational and predictable and know what they’re going to wear most times, so they want to take only the tried and tested products with them to have the options they need, but at the same time not take ANYTHING extra. And guess what? These girls will always look stunning without carrying loads of stuff with them. I’m definitely more of this type of girl: I want all my options but it a most compact form possible.

So, how do you get maximum options with minimum space taken? Here’s how :). Oh, I actually have 2 versions for this makeup bag featuring 2 different palettes. They are completely different so I couldn't pick one.

So here’s version 1. I should point out that a lot of the same principles apply here as for a makeup maximalist, so I won’t include the same comments for the same products.

"Nerd" Travel Makeup Bag (v.1)

Makeup Nerd v.1:

Clarins Instant Light Radiance Boosting Complexion Base in 01 Rose

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Stay-in-Place Makeup in 0.5

Too Faced Absolutely Flawless Flexible Coverage Concealer in Vanilla

Bourjois Healthy Balance Compact Powder in 51

Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer

TheBalm Balm Jovi Rockstar Face Palette (I’m a fan of this super-slim and compact palette: it is great, you get so much in it yet it is so small. You’ll have all your eyes, cheeks and lips products here, yet so many different options at the same time. The products are great quality and there’s also a big mirror inside. It is a real space saver.)

Anastasia Beverly Hills brow pencil in medium brown

Any eye-liner of your choice (I happen to have the dark-grey one from Bourjois)

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine lipstick in 54 Boy (in addition to the lip stains in the palette, it is also nice to have some universal nude or MLBB lip color that you can easily throw in your bag and carry around with you, knowing that you can wear it with any look)

Brushes:

Real Techniques Pixel-Point Eyeliner Brush from the Starter Set (for concealer, because you can do the primer and foundation with your hands)

And here’s version 2. The main palette here is different, so the whole set is a bit different.

"Nerd" Travel Makeup Bag (v.2)

Makeup Nerd v.2:

Clarins Instant Light Radiance Boosting Complexion Base in 01 Rose

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Stay-in-Place Makeup in 0.5

Too Faced Absolutely Flawless Flexible Coverage Concealer in Vanilla

Bourjois Healthy Balance Compact Powder in 51

Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer

Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Wardrobe Dual Decker Colour for Eyes and Cheeks (this guy is a star of this set, and it is stunning: it has eye-shadows, eye-liners, eye pencil, highlighter, blushes and eye brushes. What else can you ask for? The quality is supreme, and you don’t need to worry about where to put your eye brushes, as they’re all included. There’s also a big mirror inside as well.)

Phew. If you read till the end, I think you’re a hero and I want to thank you :). Really, because it was a looong post.

Now, obviously you may not be exactly one type or the other, you may be a mixture of a few or even all of them. Also, you may prefer or need different makeup products than what I listed. However, I hope it did give you some ideas about how you can optimize your travel makeup bag.

I do hope this was helpful and you took something from this post. If so, please, share your thoughts in the comments. Also, I would love to know some of your tips and tricks for packing makeup for traveling, so please do share those as well.Thank you for visiting my blog and taking time to read this epic post :). I really appreciate it. Have a great day and good luck packing for your next trip.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Hi guys. Sorry I haven't yet posted my post on the mysterious 3 makeup bags that I promised on Twitter. It still needs a bit more tweaks and I need some extra time for it, so I won't promise anything again for now, it'll just be up when it's ready. Meanwhile I'll just share what I've been up to on Saturday.

I went to a master class called "A painting in 4 hours with oil paints". Now I'll start by saying that I am not an artist by any means, in fact I've never painted with oil paints in my life (although I own ones, paradox, huh?). However, I've always loved drawing and painting when I was a kid and a teenager, and I would probably still be doing that but unfortunately a busy life and a lack of time do their sinister job. Anyway, I thought going to this master class would be a great way to make this time and get away from the life's routine a little bit, just relax and have fun.

I won't say a lot about the class, I'll let a few pictures speak for themselves. I'll just say this: we had a great teacher and a great hostess and they made it very easy for me to paint my first ever decent proper painting in my life. Paintings of the other 3 girls turned out very beautiful too (you'll be able to see them in the pictures below), they loved them too and enjoyed the whole process.

Starting out roughly

Putting main colors on the canvas

Details, details, details...

Signing my work

Done and happy!

I experienced absolute artistic happiness for these 4 hours and if you have any similar master classes in your area I would strongly suggest you take them. It will bring you immense pleasure and fulfillment. At least, so it did for me. I'll definitely do that again. That Saturday made my week.

Hope you are having a great week. Let me know what you are up to these days in the comments and thank you for reading.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

This is another of those non-beauty related random posts. I thought it would be fun to throw in something different for a change.

Here's the thing. My son just went to school for the first time in September (can't believe it, I feel old :) ). All of us parents bought simple clear mugs for our kids to leave at school. Since they were all the same and clear we had to take them home to sign the name of the child to whom the mug belonged. Well, I thought that just signing the mug was no fun and decided to decorate it. Later, it appeared that I was not the only one thinking so :), all parents were very creative and came up with their own decorative ideas.

Anyway, since I had to use something that could stand the contact with water or other liquids at least for a while,and I didn't have any special glass paint or anything like that, I decided to use nail polish. I know, I know, it won't last long and will probably chip after a couple of uses and washes, but I can always repaint the mug or remove the polish altogether. Plus, I didn't have time to go look for some special paint that could stand the water and be safe for when my kid would drink from the mug painted by it. You can of course use the proper paint that's safe to use on kitchen glass and just follow the same technique.

So, here's what I've used to decorate my mug:

nail polish in 3 different colors

any kind of washi tape

Q-tips and

nail polish remover for cleaning up at the end

Now it's pretty obvious how to use all these things.1. First, you need to put washi tape on the mug leaving gaps for your desired stripes.2. Then you just paint on the nail polish in those gaps between the washi tape. Keep in mind that you'll need to use A LOT of nail polish to get a reasonably opaque color. So use thick layers, otherwise you'll just paint forever. Then you wait for the first layer to completely dry. Then repeat with the 2nd (3rd etc.) layer and let it dry again. I did 2 layers just because I was lazy. It could easily use 1 more layer.3. Once the last layer is totally dry you can remove the washi tape.4. Now you just put dots between the stripes, basically exactly where your washi tape was. Let them dry.5. Once everything is completely dry, you can take a Q-tip soaked with a nail polish remover and clean up the not-so-very-tidy edges.And voilà! You're done :).

Striped and dotted mug

I like it. I think it looks so fun and happy for any child, but great for my boy especially, because it is not too girly, it's still simple, yet the colors make it unique and personal. He loved it.

Thank you for reading, I hope you liked this little DYI. Please, let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more posts like these. Have a lovely day and keep your heart beautiful.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Since I'm working and rarely have the chance to go out and wear looks like these, I have only one option: to rock them at work. Yep, believe it or not, I did wear this look to work, but only because there is no dress-code in the company I work for, and I basically sit in front of my computer the whole day. So no one would care less about what I'm wearing either on my face or on my body, hence the freedom for me to wear whatever I want :) (even though I rarely go to extremes). But if your work place is different, I suggest to reserve this type of look for some night out because it is not really daytime or work appropriate. Be reasonable with it.

However, you could of course adapt it to suit your day-time needs by skipping the eye-shadows altogether and going for a thinner line of your liquid liner and blotting the lips slightly to get just a berry color stain effect rather than a full-on shiny dark lip color.

If you want to wear it as is, feel absolutely free to do so for a special occasion. I think it would make a great statement look for any party or night out of any sort. You'll definitely make an impression and will be remembered :).

Anyhow, I really love how the look turned out though. The superstar of it is definitely the lipstick. It is Clarins Rouge Eclat lipstick in 06 True Aubergine, which I am loving to pieces. It's gorgeous! This is such a rich sophisticated shade that will suit everybody, literally everybody. The pale girls like myself can rock it and the darker skinned beauties will look absolutely hot in it too, so if you want to get this one great dark berry-type fall shade, then get this one. It's amazing quality and equally amazing color.

I hope you liked the look and found it inspiring. Please, do let me know if you'd wear it and if so how you would adapt it to yourself. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Meanwhile, thank you for reading. Have a lovely day and keep your heart beautiful.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

I have to admit that I've stolen the idea for this post from Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup. But I only did it because I honestly had the same idea travelling through my mind for a while now, and my Chanel collection has expanded a little with items that all seem to be very fall appropriate. However, since Anna posted her blog post first I've technically stolen this idea from her :). I hope she will forgive me though, plus I'm going to talk about slightly different products here (except for the one I just couldn't pass and bought because of her post, the Poesie palette).Please, go check out her blog. It's among my favorites. She's amazing and sweet and always has very good content. Plus I like the way she writes. I actually enjoy READING her blog as opposed to just looking through the pictures diagonally as I tend to do on other blogs.

Ok, now let's move on to the Chanel products which, I think, can make great additions to any fall makeup bag:1. Les 4 Ombres Multi-effect Quadra Eyeshadow in 234 Poesie (on the right side in the picture above)2. Les 4 Ombres Multi-effect Quadra Eyeshadow in 208 Tisse Gabrielle (on the left side in the picture above)3. Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in 92 Diapason (in the middle of the picture above)4. Le Volume de Chanel Mascara in 10 Noir, waterproof version (the long black thing in the middle of the picture above)5. Rouge Allure Velvet lipstick in 47 L'Amoureuse (the brightest lipstick on the left)6. Rouge Coco Shine lipstick in 54 Boy (the one in the middle)7. Rouge Coco Shine lipstick in 93 Intime (the soft-pink one on the right)The 2 eyeshadow palettes and the Rouge Coco Shine lipstick in 93 Intime are part of Chanel's Fall 2014 collection. The Poesie palette and the Intime lipstick are for sure limited edition, although I'm not quite sure about the Gabrielle palette.I believe the rest should be from their permanent line (but don't quote me on that) so you should always be able to get it :).I won't talk about the mascara and the cream shadow here since I've already reviewed them. The only difference is that in this picture the mascara is waterproof. My review of the waterproof version would be the same, even though its waterproof quality is questionable. It's ok to hold the curl and stand a little heat, sweating or minor tearing, but I wouldn't count on its waterproofness on the beach or in the swimming pool, because it will flake and smudge on you in extreme humid and wet conditions. So it did on me, but since I love this mascara anyway I'm just using it on a day-to-day basis now.As to the eye-shadow palettes, I suggest to take a closer look at them.

I think that the Poesie palette is perfect for daytime with hints of bronzy, pink and plumy-brown shades, although the darkest shade definitely allows you to smoke it up for the evening. It is beautiful! I love it. It's such a shame it is LE as I'm sure a lot of people would love to get it.

Chanel Les 4 Ombres Multi-effect Quadra Eyeshadow in 234 Poesie (LE)

The second palette, Tisse Gabrielle, feels more like a great smokey palette, although again you may sheer out the shades for a daytime appropriate look. I will post proper detailed reviews for both palettes later.

And here are the lipsticks. I've also picked a few options: 2 natural daytime appropriate and 1 brighter and deeper option for the night out, which some of us may easily rock during the day :) (yep, I'll be doing that too).

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine lipsticks in 93 Intime (LE shade) and 54 Boy

As you can see these 2 colors are beautiful natural everyday type shades: one being slightly lighter and pinkier (Intime) and the other one being a tad bit darker and a bit more peachy-pink nude (Boy).

But for bolder gals out there, who can't live without their fall plums and berries, there's this one gorgeous velvety matte lipstick. This shade is so rich and beautiful and just screams "Fall" to me.

Rouge Allure Velvet lipstick in 47 L'Amoureuse

Now all these products work really well together in terms of colors, so it is kind of like a Chanel makeup capsule you can put together yourself.

To get an idea of how these makeup items will look together I've created this simple look using some of them, particularly the Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in 92 Diapason as a base on my lids plus Les 4 Ombres Multi-effect Quadra Eyeshadow in 234 Poesie on top. I think these 2 work so well when paired together bringing the best hues and finishes out of both products. On the lips I have Rouge Coco Shine lipstick in 54 Boy.

Makeup using Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in 92 Diapason, Les 4 Ombres Multi-effect Quadra Eyeshadow in 234 Poesie on top of it and Rouge Coco Shine lipstick in 54 Boy

And that's it for my Chanel capsule makeup for fall. I hope you found this post useful. Did you like any of the products? What would you like to get for yourself? Please, share your thoughts in the comments below.

Thank you for reading. I hope you are enjoying your fall and having a wonderful day today.

Monday, September 15, 2014

I'm finally ready to write a review of these 2 awesome babies. I won't keep you guessing and tell you straight away that these palettes are fantastic and have already become one of my most frequently used and favorite ones.

Each of the palette comes with a mini Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer. The packaging of both of the palettes is super sleek and functional. It is slim and very compact yet sturdy enough for traveling. It has a magnetic closure and a big mirror inside. The only difference between Lorac Pro and Lorac Pro 2palette is that the 1st one is black and the 2nd one is grey.

If you hold both of these palettes together they will be the thickness of any of the Naked palettes, which is awesome, because it means that you can take both of them when traveling without sacrificing the space in your luggage.

Now on to the colors. Here's the comparison of the two palettes one next to the other.

Lorac Pro and Lorac Pro 2 palettes: comparison

As you can see the 2 palettes have similarities but are different enough to justify buying both of them :).

They both have 16 gorgeous shadows with the top row of mattes and the bottom row of shimmers. The colors of the original Lorac Pro palette are more basic nude-type ones, although not boring at all raging from white to black, so you've got the whole spectrum of different shades from light to dark. Same goes for the Lorac Pro 2 palette, although it definitely feels more cool-toned with some fun pops of color. However, it does have its share of basic neutral and warmer shades too. It also features this super star bright intense navy color. With both palettes you can achieve a multitude of looks from daytime to super smokey and dramatic ones. By the way, the colors in these are all different except for the black one which is present in both palettes.

The finishes of these shadows are beautiful: the mattes are super intense and creamy as well as shimmers. However, the shimmers aren't so frosty and metallic that it turns you away. I'd say it's a more refined shimmer with gorgeous pearly-metallic grown-up finish. There is no chunky glitter in any of those shades. What amazes me most is that ALL the shades are consistently and equally soft, creamy, smooth, pigmented and blendable. Consistent quality is a rare thing in a palette with so many colors and different finishes.

The pigmentation, the blendability and the staying power of these shadows is just top notch without any primer. With a primer it's unbeatable. Seriously.

One note though, since these shadows are so fully packed with pigment, they may seem powdery if you're not careful and squish your brush into them and won't tap off the excess. BUT they're NOT. What you may consider powdery residue or fallout is the super fully packed and pressed together pigment. All you need to do is just touch the shadow in the pan with your brush gently ONE time, then tap off the excess and that would be enough to pack enough color on your eyelid. If you do that you'll see that a little goes a long way indeed with these shadows, and there is no powderiness, or fallout or chalkiness at all.

Now let's take a closer look at each palette and it's swatches.

Lorac Pro palette

Lorac Pro palette (closer look)

Lorac Pro palette: swatches

A here is a look I created with Lorac Pro palette WITHOUT any primer just so that you'll get a rough idea of what kind of look you might get with it.

The look using Lorac Pro palette

Now here is the Lorac Pro 2 palette.

Lorac Pro 2 palette

Lorac Pro 2 palette (closer look)

Lorac Pro 2 palette: swatches

...And the look using Lorac Pro 2 palette...

The look using Lorac Pro 2 palette

If you asked me what palette to get if you had to choose only one, I'd tell you to get both. They're equally beautiful and are different enough to serve you separately and together. If you really-really have to choose just one then go for the one that appeals more to you in the color selection. I personally am in love with both.

In conclusion I'll say if you don't own any palette and not many shadows at all, I'd strongly suggest you invest in one of those or even both. I honestly think they're better than the Naked palettes. They'll give you the variety and the quality you can only dream of.

Rating by category (out of 10, 10 being the highest score):

versatility - 10

product quality (pigmentation, blendability, staying power etc.) - 10

packaging - 10

travel-friendliness - 10

Phew. I hope you enjoyed reading this review and it will help you with your future purchases. If you have any of those palettes, please, let me know what you think of them in the comments below. Thank you for reading.